Ear: 30

Did you know that Feb. 30 was a real date? Yes, it was, twice in history, according to Time And Date.

The first time was in 1712, in Sweden. When Sweden converted from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1700, things got messy. The change made 1700 not a leap year under the new calendar in Sweden, and 1704 and 1708 were erroneously made into leap years, so Sweden was out of sync with both calendars. Sweden went back to the Julian calendar, and Feb. 30, 1712, happened as a result of having two leap days that year, to get the calendar back in balance.

Then, when Sweden finally converted to the Gregorian calendar for good in 1753, they had to rebalance the timing yet again. Eleven days needed to be removed, so Feb. 17 was followed by March 1 that year. For what it’s worth, many felt they had actually been cheated out of 11 days.

Feb. 30 was also a real date from 1930 to 1931 after the Soviet Union’s revolutionary calendar was introduced in 1929. The calendar had five-day weeks, 30-day months, and the six days left over were “monthless” holidays. Happily, the revolutionary calendar was finally tossed aside, and the Gregorian calendar was restored in 1940. (Image: Now I Know)